


Eyas

by prettybirdy979



Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, All Clint Bartons are Deaf Clint Bartons, Deaf Clint Barton, Gen, Hurt Matt Murdock, Kid Fic, Matt Murdock Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-10
Updated: 2016-03-10
Packaged: 2018-05-25 21:13:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6210307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettybirdy979/pseuds/prettybirdy979
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So they're fighting some Hydra grunt with a grudge and access to Hydra mad-science. Normal day really except no one's quite sure what the gun does, since it doesn't seem to be having a consistent effect. See how Thor is now a baby while Clint's still the same wise-cracking a-hole, if maybe a bit younger than he was this morning.</p>
<p>Then the grunt scores a hit on Daredevil, there to help out, and now Clint has a whole host of other problems. Namely the screaming, recently blinded nine year old.</p>
<p>It's probably going to be a long day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eyas

**Author's Note:**

> First posted [ here](http://daredevilkink.dreamwidth.org/3230.html?thread=7521950#cmt7521950), though a comment there pointing out a somewhat major plot hole put me off posting it here until very very well fixed. 
> 
> Title is the name of a baby hawk, specifically one taken from its nest at a very young age - I think you'll see why I think it fits.
> 
> Thanks to PipMer for the beta.

'Seriously. Fuck Hydra and their mad science division. What the hell kind of use does this stupid gun have anyway?' There's a smattering of agreement over the comms from the Avengers still able to fight and beside Clint, Daredevil even cracks a smile. Which huh. That's an odd look on him. 

_'Barton, head in the game.'_  Steve sounds exactly as he normally does, despite being partially hit - he’d caught most of the blast on his shield - with the ray that possibly de-ages you. It's kinda hard to tell right now. They know it has some effect because Thor got hit in the face with a full blast and now he's a screaming, terrified baby left in Bruce's care (because no one wants to risk the gun making Bruce a toddler Hulk. All that destructive ability and two year old tantrums...) but none of the three others hit have shown any signs of babyhood. Steve looks exactly the same; Tony doesn't sound any different though there's a note of confusion in his voice and Clint... well. 

Clint took a clip to the shoulder and now he's sure he's younger. His body seems to lack a lot of the muscle memory he's built into it along with most of the scars and aches. But his voice is definitely still broken and he's the same height so he's no child. If he had to guess he'd say he's no younger than eighteen but there's no one with eyes on him bar Daredevil, who claims to be bad at guessing ages from the way people look. Clint's going to have to wait until they get off this roof to figure out what's happened to him.

All of which makes this ray gun's effects a damned mystery and they have to shut it - and the Hydra grunt with a grudge - down before he decides he's had enough of firing it at the Avengers and goes after the people of Hell's Kitchen. There's still four of them plus the neighbourhood's 'friendly' vigilante - who rocked up just after baby Thor started screaming - and surely that should be enough to put this guy down.

If they can just find him. He keeps popping up, firing one shot and then vanishing. It's maddening. 

'My head is in the game. Anyone got eyes on him?'

_'No sign of him up here. I think he's got some kind of heat shield. It's blocking JARVIS' sensors. I want that, by the way. Dibs.'_  Clint rolls his eyes. Like anyone else would want tech that's not been deconstructed and reconstructed by Tony.

Beside Clint, Daredevil pauses. 'Someone's climbing up the fire escape. Building behind us.' Clint turns but there's no one there.

He still draws his bow. Daredevil sounds so sure. 'Alert,' he says to his comm softly and all chatter cuts out. There's still nothing there but Daredevil is moving across the roof; tracking something.

Then a patch of sky on the other roof blurs and a man - the Hydra grunt - is standing there, stupid gun in hand. He manages to fire once before Clint's tranquillised arrow is buried in his neck. It's a fast attacking drug so he gets two steps in and then falls to his knees. 

It's about then a kid starts to scream beside Clint. 

Started, Clint turns to look at Daredevil and- Oh shit. There's a kid there, practically swimming in the vigilante's costume and he's crying. 

'Dad! Dad! I can't see. Dad, please I can't see! Dad! DADDY. DADDY!' the kid cries and shit Clint's not sure he's the one to be handling this. 'DADDY!'

But he's all that's here. With a quick check that the Hydra nut is down; Clint races to the kid's side. 'Hey, kid. Shh, it's okay. We'll find your Dad soon, promise.' He runs a hand over Daredevil's side and the kid jerks. 'And look, if I just lift this up, you can-'

Clint cuts off as the kid's blank eyes fail to meet his. The area around them is inflamed and all puffy; like something has been spilt on them. The kid _can't see_. 

'I can't see! Please, I want my Dad. He was just here. Dad! DAD! DADDY! I can't see! Daddy please, help!' There's something off in the kid's breathing; he's definitely either on his way to a panic attack or in shock. Clint does the only thing he can think of.

He pulls the kid into a hug, trying to make him as secure as possible. 'Shh, it's okay. You're alright. Come on kid, you're alright. Breathe with me, in and out. In and out. We'll find your Dad just breathe.' The kid hiccups but there's something of a change in his breathing. 'Breathe for a count of five. I'll count. One. Two. Three. Four. Five.' The kid exhales and it's shaky but better. 'And in, two, three, four, five.' They keep this up for a long minute but finally the kid doesn't sound like he's completely losing it. 

He's still shaking though and probably crying - Clint can't tell with all the inflammation around his eyes - so he's probably panicking still. Okay, distraction time. 

'You got a name kid?'

'Matt. Matt Murdock.' A small part of Clint jumps for joy at finally getting Daredevil's identity but it's quickly swallowed by the rest of him that's horrified at what's happening here. Whatever the hell it is. 

'Okay Matt. Keep breathing, and I'm going to call someone. We'll find your Dad, promise. And see if we can help you see.' Matt nods, and there's a hitch in his breathing but he starts on the breathing again. 

Clint taps at his comm. 'How much of that did you get?'

_'Mostly the screaming.'_  Steve admits. _'_ _We're on our way. Threat neutralised?'_

'He's out for the count. And I need you to start looking for a Matt Murdock. Find his Dad, ASAP.' 

_'I'm already on it,'_ Tony says.

Clint looks down at the still terrified Matt. 'Okay Matt, we're looking for your Dad. In the meantime, I'm going to take you somewhere safe.' Matt starts to panic again so Clint hurriedly adds, 'I promise your Dad will be right there but we've gotta get you to a doctor. He'll fix you.'

'Promise?' Matt's voice is small but full of trust.

But Clint knows better than to make promises; especially with the thought that's been nagging at him since this all started. 'He'll try as hard as he can.'

******** 

'Matthew Murdock, Hell's Kitchen local. Lawyer and local hero after he was blinded at the age of nine saving the life of an old man,' Tony reads out. He's definitely younger now than he was this morning but it's barely noticeable. 'Which must be the age he is now.' Clint sighs and watches Bruce checking Matt over on the other side of the lab. 

'There's gotta be a pattern, some kind of logic to this thing’s effects.' Steve rubs at his forehead. 'A baby, nine, eighteen and maybe a few years younger for Tony and I. What's th-'

'Where's my Dad?' Matt yells at the suddenly visibly uncomfortable Bruce. 'I want my Dad. Dad! Dad! Dad, please!'

Clint's over there in a flash. 'Hey, Matt, it's me. Clint. Remember?'

Matt reaches out a hand and Clint guides it to his face. 'I... you said you'd find my Dad. Dad'll fix this.'

Oh the surety in his voice. 'What needs fixing?'

Even without his eyes, Matt manages to convey a look of 'how stupid are you'. 'I can't _see!'_

Bruce shakes his head. 'I'm sorry Matt; but it can't be helped. We'll do what we can but I think the damage is permanent.' 

Matt's head suddenly turns towards Tony and Steve. 'No! NO! You're lying!' Clint startles at the anger and fear in Matt's voice. 'YOU'RE LYING!'

Tony looks startled. 'Kid, what do you mea-?'

'He's NOT dead; you're LYING.' Matt tries to jump off the table, for what Clint's not sure. Clint catches him and pulls him into a tight hug. 'Dad's not dead!'

Oh shit. Also Clint's vaguely impressed at the kid's hearing if he heard what must have been a whisper from the other side of the room. 'I got ya kid.'

Matt starts pounding at Clint, with surprisingly strong hits. 'He's NOT dead.'

Clint shakes his head. 'He might be kid. I'm sorry. He might be.'

With a loud sob, Matt starts crying into Clint's shoulder. Clint just rubs his back and glares at Tony and Steve. They leave; leaving him to hold Matt as he breaks down.

******** 

Two hours later and Clint's managed to get Matt into a bed and helped him take a sleeping pill. At least his injuries have disappeared; leaving him blind but physically okay. Whatever power the gun has, it's clearly not strong enough to make him relive those.

'We've got it,' Tony whispers as he and Natasha sneak into Clint's bedroom where Matt's sleeping. Clint's just keeping a watch out; like he promised. It's not like there's much else to do. He's still feeling out of sorts in a body that's way too young for him and anyway if he leaves this room he might end up like Steve and get sucked into babysitting Thor. For a tiny baby, Thor packs a punch.

'Got what?' Clint whispers back, looking up from Matt. Matt, who is clutching at Clint's hand in his sleep and twitching in fear every so often.

Tony takes a seat in the other chair Bruce had dragged in for Clint. 'The _ages._ We compared pictures of Steve from this morning to now and there is a difference. Only one a computer could pick up.' He waves the photos at Clint. 'Found a perfect match though, for his post-serum self. And I'm definitely looking the age I was when Iron Man started.'

That... doesn't make sense. 'What?'

Natasha rolls her eyes. 'Tony and Steve deaged to the age they were when they started being Iron Man and Captain America. And you're the age you were when you first started using the name Hawkeye.'

Clint nods in realisation as Tony continues, 'From what I can guess, the gun takes those of us without extraordinary abilities back to the moment we decided to be extraordinary anyway-'

'No modesty there,' Clint says with a smile.

'-and those of us with extraordinary abilities to the moment they got them.' 

Everyone looks down at the sleeping Matt.

'Well shit,' Clint sums up. ‘So why didn’t Thor and Matt keep their adult minds? I mean, I’m definitely physically a teenager but I remember being an adult. And you and Steve still have your memories.’

‘A stroke of luck in Steve’s case,’ Tony says with a smirk. He then sighs. ‘I’m working on nothing but guesswork here Barton; but as far as I can tell, those of us that kept our memories didn’t take a full blast.’ Clint instantly starts to run over the moments everyone had been shot in his mind as Tony talks, ‘I had the suit, Steve took most of it on his shield and you-’

‘I only got clipped.’ Clint rolls the shoulder he’d taken the blast on. ‘Makes as much sense as anything you come up with.’

‘Hey!’ 

Clint just smirks. Matt shifts in his sleep, dragging Clint’s attention back to him. 'How long until you can fix this?' he asks Tony.

'A couple of days.' Tony fiddles with the papers. 'Think you can handle that?'

'I'll manage.'

******** 

Clint will so not manage.

It's not that Matt is demanding or a little brat. If he was, Clint wouldn't have a problem. But he's not. Instead he's quiet and withdrawn and nearly constantly tearing up. Not that he cries though. He's just... stoic. And sombre. And every other synonym for absolutely fucking devastated that you can think of. Matt doesn't seem interested when they explain to him he's in the future. He barely eats the first day and spends a lot of it pretending to sleep.

Clint can tell the difference because when Matt _is_  asleep, he calls for his Dad. He wakes up screaming 'I can't see' three times that night and Clint holds him through them all. After the third time, Clint just holds him while he sleeps.

On the second day Matt's business partner and apparent friend fast talks his way into the tower. The second this Foggy Nelson sees Matt he stiffens but then he's at this bedside in an instant. 

'Hi Matt. My name's Foggy. Do you remember me?'

Matt shakes his head. 'I'm sorry.'

Foggy smiles softly. 'It's okay. I'm a friend of yours; of big you.'

'Did you know my Dad?' The delight in Matt's voice breaks Clint's heart.

'No. I'm sorry. We never met.'

Matt lowers his head. 'They said he was dead. In this future.'

With closed eyes Foggy sighs. 'I'm sorry Matt. He is.' Matt chokes on his next breath. 'I'm so sorry.'

'How?'

'He was a hero Matty.' Foggy gently pats Matt's hand. 'He'd just won a fight - a big one too - and everyone was cheering for him.'

'But Dad doesn't have any fights coming up. We're waiting for the right one; a good one.'

For a second Foggy looks thrown then he smiles. 'I know Matt. You get it too. The right fight. Only, there were some people mad that your Dad won. So they... they shot him. And he, he didn't make it.'

Matt's shaking his head. 'But it doesn't make _sense._ '

Clint steps in. 'I know kid-'

'Stop calling me that!' Matt screams and Clint nods. 

'Okay Matt. I'm sorry.' With a sigh, Clint takes Matt's other hand. 'Remember what I said last night? About how this is the future?'

'It's an awful future,' Matt whines. 'Will I get to pick a better one, when I go back?'

Clint's sure he won't remember this. 'You can try k-Matt. All we can ever do is try. And I'm sure if someone could change the future, it'll be you.'

Matt gives him a small smile and Clint's heart melts. A small, selfish part of him, is going to miss this kid. 

******** 

Tony manages to fix or reconstruct or reverse engineer the stupid ray gun the day after Foggy shows up. Clint's never been so grateful that Tony doesn't understand the concept of 'breaks' and 'sleep' like normal human beings do. While also being deeply saddened because it means Matt is going.

They fix Thor first as everyone is a bit tired of the ever demanding baby God of Thunder. It takes a moment and Thor goes from a very small baby on a huge bed to a very big and naked man on a tiny bed that looks seconds from collapsing.

'How are you feeling Thor?'

'I feel relaxed and satisfied. My friends, you were great caregivers.'

'Glad you think so now,' Steve snarks, as the one who'd ended up caring for Thor the most. Bruce pokes at Thor and declares him perfectly healthy.

Which means it's Matt's turn. Clint helps him to the bed and steps back. He watches as Matt goes from a bewildered nine year old to a bewildered thirty year old in the blink of an eye. Foggy's by his side in an instant; with a blanket to wrap round him.

'Matt, you okay?'

Matt blinks but nods. 'I, ah. Think so?' He turns his head in the team's direction. 'Thank you?' he says, with slowly reddening cheeks. 

Tony bows. 'You're welcome Lucifer. Now move it, it's my turn.'

Foggy leads Matt out but Matt makes him stop beside Clint. 'Clint?' he says hesitantly. In his voice Clint can hear everything that's running through his head too; the uncertainty of where they stand and a sense of loss. But maybe they can have something else. Maybe... friendship as adults?

'Don't mention it.' Clint thinks for a moment then adds, 'Kid.'

Matt smirks. Yes, Clint can see himself as this man's friend. 'Call me that again and I'll kick your ass. I can do that now.'

'Is that a challenge? Because I'm sure I can totally take you.'

'Do it again and you can find out.' Matt pauses, then moves suddenly and hugs Clint. It's over in a second - before Clint can react - and Matt then lets Foggy lead him away.

Clint watches them go and smiles. He's going to miss the nine year old kid but he thinks he'll be glad to have Daredevil back. To have Matt. 


End file.
